


Of Arrows and Soulmates

by FluffyLlamacorn



Series: Soulmate verse [1]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic Awareness Week, Aromantic Character, Aromantic Kate Bishop, Gen, One-sided Kate Bishop/Eli Bradley, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, They go on a date and it goes as badly as it did in canon, aromantic spectrum awareness week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6052177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyLlamacorn/pseuds/FluffyLlamacorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The timer on Kate's arm only has a couple of hours left, which is just bad timing. There had been months left when they planned the date, then a couple of hours ago it jumped.</p>
<p>Kate isn't entirely sure, but meeting your soulmate while on a date with someone else is probably considered rude? When she meets him, her actual soulmate, aren't they supposed to start dating ASAP? That's what's supposed to happen to people with just the one timer: You've found the one, so you can trust fate and let yourself fall in love.</p>
<p>Kate isn't even sure she knows how that feels.</p>
<p>Posted as part of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week 2016.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Arrows and Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [spitecentral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spitecentral/pseuds/spitecentral) in the [GenAndAroPrompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GenAndAroPrompts) collection. 



> That response being: I wrote this long ago, so it's not specifically based on your prompt re:fandom and such, but it's platonic soulmates and I'm really proud of it, so I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Most of this fic takes place during Young Avengers Presents #6. I tried to make it understandable without having read it, but that's where to go for the parts I skipped. Also, it's Fraction writing Hawkeyes, so what could go wrong?
> 
> Posted as part of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week 2016, because aro!Kate is best Kate and I will fight people over this.

The timer on Kate's arm only has a couple of hours left, which is just bad timing. There had been _months_ left when they planned the date, then a couple of hours ago it jumped.

  
Kate isn't entirely sure, but meeting your soulmate while on a date with someone else is probably considered rude?

  
Like, Eli knows he isn't her soulmate, just like she isn't his, it's just- If she meets her soulmate, her actual soulmate, isn't she supposed to start dating him ASAP? That's what Billy and Teddy did. Fell in love instantly the moment their timers hit zero and have stayed together ever since. That's what's supposed to happen to people with just the one timer: When you find the one, so you can trust fate and let yourself fall in love.

  
Kate isn't even sure she knows how that feels.

She had picked out a nice and casual outfit in a light shade of purple ages ago, a tank top with matching pants and shoes, but now she considers wearing something with sleeves. It's not something she can help, this whole meeting her soulmate thing, but it's still not something she's supposed to do, right? Maybe she ought to cancel the date? She doesn't want to hurt Eli, she really does care about him...

  
Her timer had never been one to jump randomly. Some people had timers that jumped all over the place and sure, it hadn't stayed entirely still, but it usually shifted a week back and forth on maximum. This is only the third major jump. The first jump had happened the first time she picked up a bow. She shaved a lot of years off the number on her timer in that motion, but she was six and it was still ages into the future. The second time had happened the evening she joined the Young Avengers. She had been too busy during the whole ordeal, what with all the saving the world she had to do, to notice when exactly she changed her fate, whether it was the decision to join or during the fight or something else, but becoming a superhero meant that she would meet her soulmate in less than a year. And now this. The third one, the one where she couldn't figure out what she did. Obviously it meant that they, he, had done something. Decided to be present during their date. Maybe he would be their waiter? Maybe he suddenly had to take a shift for his coworker?

  
But hey, then maybe he would get someone else to take the shift. Maybe she didn't need to meet him tonight.

***

It was a pretty crappy date, even if it hadn't been for the timer. Eli had shown up in a freaking suit and Kate had felt ridiculously under dressed from the moment she saw him. Wasn't this just a casual date? Sure, neither of them had been supposed to meet their soulmate for months if not longer, but _they_ weren't soulmates either.

  
And then he noticed her timer and looked hurt. He tried to hide it, of course, because everyone knew cutting time off the timer was practically impossible and she couldn't have done it on purpose, but that didn't make her feel any better.

  
Then their ride got attacked seconds before she was supposed to meet her soulmate and she could forget everything in the heat of the battle, even if her opponent kept saying weird stuff.

It's not until after Ronin has retreated that she acknowledges the warmth in her arm telling her that her timer has reached zero and that pretty much confirms that she's going to accept his invitation, right?

***

She kidnaps Billy at the first opportunity that doesn't scream date gossip too loudly. She tells him everything about the attack, concluding with her decision to go meet him.

"Wait, why?" Billy interrupts. "That doesn't sound like a particularly smart idea."

Kate hesitates, but shows him her timer.

"Oh," Billy says. "Oh, yeah, you gotta follow up on this. But- Why did you need to talk to me about it?"

"Because I'm not about to do something that stupid completely on my own," Kate smirks with a confidence she doesn't feel. She wants to ask him about having a soulmate, about what she's supposed to do about her soulmate being practically twice her age, but she doesn't know where to start.

***

Her soulmate is Clint Barton.

Suddenly the bow cutting several years off their time apart makes even more sense than when she thought she would meet him on some mission.  
He doesn't acknowledge it as he strips her off her name and bow, though.

***

Eli is furious at her, like he has any right to be angry when she's busy being angry herself. They yell at each other and Eli slams the door after congratulating her on her taste in older men.

Kate wants to scream.

Instead she finds a punching bag, hoping to punch her way to a solution. Instead she gets asked out by Tommy, who doesn't seem to care about the fact that she just found her soulmate.

"I hate those damn things," he tells her, though he keeps his tone light, like it's all a big joke. He does that a lot. "They refuse to speed up when I do, so I'm not going to let them rule my life." He's got two. One was Billy and the other is still a while into the future. He keeps an extra layer of cloth over his timers to stop him from looking every second. Kate isn't sure it works, but she's just happy to find someone who won't give her shit and she feels like pissing Eli off, so she accepts.

***

Kate hesitates as she hangs up the picture of the original Avengers Clint had given her to reward her for stealing her bow back during her date with Tommy. It had been a long night, but there was still something left unaddressed.. "Uhm, Clint?" she says softly. She has a feeling a moment later would be too late.

"Yeah?"

"My, uhm, my timer..." she starts, but she isn't sure how to continue. "It, uhm..."

"Oh, yeah," Clint says casually. "Yeah, that's a thing that happened. Sorta figured it would when the timer changed after I decided to find you. Either that or it would be someone you were hanging out with." The way he says it makes it sound like it's no big deal.

Kate blushes. Heavily. "Well, I just- I just wanted to say that I'm not- Not into-"

"Woah, Kate, you realize soulmates can be platonic, right?" Clint interrupts her, horrified at what she suggested, but not quite believing that was the direction she wanted to go.

Kate breathes easy for a moment before diverting her eyes again. "Not if you only have the one."

Clint blinks at her. "Well, then the universe messed up because I'm not about to touch a kid half my age."

"You tried punching me earlier," Kate points out.

"Details!" Clint complains. "Besides, I've just been dead and I'm still in the process of getting divorced. I'm not about to start dating anytime soon."

"So, what, that's it for you and love?" Kate asks.

"Well, not necessarily, I've got-" He rolls his left sleeve up for reference. "Uhm, around two years before I meet my last one? And it's not like you can't date people you aren't soulmates with."

Kate stares at his arm. There are four timers on it, three of them have reached zero, only one still running. He notices her gaze and points at the first one. "Natasha." The second one. "Bobbi." Then the third. "You."

Kate turns her arm to show the underside where the timer is. "You."

***

Kate's phone rings. It's probably Clint. She's been hanging more out with him after the Young Avengers disbanded. She figured it was about time she got to know her soulmate better.

It is Clint. He sounds annoyed. "It's a futzing _dog_ , Kate," he complains.

"What?" Kate asks. She could think of several conversations he would pick up with introduction and that fits into none of them.

"My last soulmate, Kate. It's a futzing _dog_."

"Oh," Kate says.

"Don't just _oh_ me, Bishop!" Clint demands.

"Congratulations?" she tries instead.

***

"The dog made the surgery," Clint says the next time she picks up the phone. "Of course, he did. That's what dogs do when they go to the vet."

"Don't marry the dog, Clint," Kate warns him.

"Man, you are _so_ quick to assume my soulmates are romantic," Clint complains.


End file.
